Blog
Being accused of sexual misconduct when you are a child
Sandra Paul
Legal 500 UK 2021
We represent a wide range of clients, including young people, professionals and well-known individuals in government, sports, media, entertainment and financial industries, for whom a criminal investigation can have devastating reputational, personal, financial and professional consequences. We work closely with our reputation and media lawyers to provide a seamless comprehensive service.
Contacting us as soon as you become aware of a police investigation increases the opportunity to resolve the matter quickly and discreetly. We will seek to avoid an arrest and protect you from the resulting potentially damaging consequences, such as oppressive bail conditions and restriction on your current or future travel.
We know that the police interview is often the most significant aspect of a criminal case. Getting the right advice at this stage is crucial. Our experienced police station advisers will carefully guide you through this challenging process.
For cases that go to court, we examine every detail to ensure the best possible outcome. Working alongside barristers and expert witnesses, we ensure that every legal or evidential point is carefully considered. This approach has seen our clients enjoy a high acquittal rate. Where a conviction cannot be avoided, we ensure that mitigation is advanced to maximise the chances of the most lenient sentence.
Kingsley Napley is ranked in Band 1 for Crime by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500.
"The ‘first-rate’ team at Kingsley Napley LLP is ‘efficient, strategic, committed and able to handle the most complex of criminal cases as well as more general crime cases’. It advises corporations and individuals on sexual offences, violent crimes, drug offences, firearms offences, extradition and high-profile matters with an international element."
Legal 500 UK 2019
"They very much embrace the need to look at the whole situation; they look at the media exposure - for people in the public eye and for a particular type of high net worth individual, that's very important and I've seen them handle that side of things very well. They're one of those few firms that would give clients a genuine round-the-clock service, seven days a week"
Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2018
Examples of work and clients our criminal litigation lawyers have include representing:
A dynamic team that shows good attention to detail."
Chambers UK 2021
Kingsley Napley has real strength and expertise at all levels of the crime group. The team is hard-working, focused on getting results and yet maintains the human touch."
Legal 500 UK 2020
The crime department is the best I have ever worked with. They are unsurpassed in the way they work as a team on their cases - it's a very well-drilled, slick operation."
Chambers UK 2020
The very strong team acts for individuals and corporations in cases concerning driving offences, extradition, sexual offences, fraud and matters with international elements."
Legal 500 UK 2020
They are able to draw on expertise across the firm to provide a seamless service - if you are facing criminal allegations they can also handle the media, as well as any employment issues or regulatory proceedings that may arise."
Chambers UK 2020
They have a stellar reputation but they are also approachable and a pleasure to work with. They are very sensible and give good advice to both counsel and clients."
Chambers and Partners, 2019
Leading criminal team that demonstrates impressive strength in depth across a broad range of cases. Regularly acts on high-profile cases involving well-known public figures. Highly recommended for its handling of complex murder charges and historic sexual abuse investigations."
Chambers UK 2019, A Client's guide to the UK Legal Profession
They stand out because of their ability to stop a case before it gets started. Their commitment, preparation and tenacity set them apart. They are a strong firm. Their various departments work in harmony and deliver the same high-quality work."
Chambers UK 2018, A Client's Guide to the UK Legal Profession
They pick up some fantastic work, they have some fantastic clients and they have a skill of trying to get rid of matters before they go too far."
Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2018
They are determined to do the best for their clients at all times and leave absolutely no stone unturned. It is a brilliant defence frm."
Chambers UK, A Client's Guide to the UK Legal Profession
"They have a very sophisticated high net worth practice and a real sensitivity to the kind of issues that high net worth individuals face."
Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2018
Their reputation as being the pre-eminent solicitors in this market is deserved. They are justifiably instructed in infamous, heavyweight cases and I can't imagine that anyone is ever dissatisfied with the service they receive."
Chambers UK, 2017
The crime team is first-rate. They are dedicated, hard working and tireless in their preparations of cases."
Chambers UK, 2017
First-class firm in terms of client care, as well as its thorough and meticulous approach to case preparation, both at pre-charge stage and at trial."
Legal 500 UK, 2017
"It is an excellent firm - the level of preparation for cases is just fantastic."
Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession
"John Harding and David Sleight lead the ‘top-flight’ team at Kingsley Napley LLP...Sandra Paul also comes highly recommended ."
Legal 500
''...Kingsley Napley LLP’s ‘high-end practice’ is part of the firm’s criminal law team, and able to draw on this expertise to handle enforcement actions for its individual and growing corporate client base...''
Legal 500 UK
"Kingsley Napley is pre-eminent at what it does: high-end, complex criminal work for high-profile individuals."
Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession
"One of the most highly regarded criminal defence firms, noted for its high-profile mandates from media organisations and sports professionals."
Chambers UK, A Clients Guide to the UK Legal Profession
If you are accused of a criminal offence or you have any questions, please contact a member of our criminal litigation team or call us on 020 7814 1200 to speak with us in confidence.
Highly collaborative and team based in everything they do. Friendly and down to earth while also being world class. Uniquely able to bring together the brightest and the best but without being pompous or superior in their attitude. Great listeners, hard workers and tactically the best in the business."
Legal 500 UK 2021
The lawyers on the crime team are relentlessly good at what they do. They have a collaborative approach and are incredibly thorough and detailed in their work."
Chambers UK 2021
KN are exceptional in almost all categories! They are streaks ahead of everyone else and provide a very high level of service. If I were in trouble that’s where I would go. I like the fact they are genuinely committed to providing excellence even on less lucrative cases or on cases of less seriousness. They completely get how serious every case is for a client . They unfailing do the very best for their clients."
Legal 500 UK 2021
In dealing with the firm, every aspect was outstanding and of the highest quality."
Chambers UK 2021
Sandra Paul discusses the complexities and challenges of dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace
As a criminal defence solicitor specialising in defending allegations of sexual misconduct and representing children, the perfect storm that has erupted since the launch of Everyone’s Invited has made me privy to some of the saddest and most distraught children I have ever advised.
The head of the Youth Justice Board has rightly criticised the Government’s plans to raise child custodial sentences. At a time when England and Wales falls behind most European countries in protecting children with the lowest age of criminal responsibility (10), it is inexplicable that the Government is taking a further regressive step by seeking to increase the length of time that children must spend in prison.
Children under 18 years old are afforded a number of special protections by virtue of the fact that they are children in the eyes of the law. These protections fall away when an individual turns 18 and they are legally considered an ‘adult’. For defendants who cross the threshold into adulthood during the criminal process, the impact of reaching this milestone can be profound.
Today JUSTICE has published the latest working party report ‘Tackling Racial Injustice: Children and the Youth Justice System’. I am delighted to have had the opportunity to chair the working party that produced this report. The report makes practical recommendations to reduce BAME disproportionality in the Youth Justice System (YJS) of England and Wales.
David Lammy’s landmark review of racial bias in the Criminal Justice System (‘CJS’), made many key recommendations to help improve trust and fairness in the CJS when it was published in 2017. One of which was to expand the use of the deferred prosecution for adults and young offenders.
The aftermath of the death of George Floyd and the strength of feeling surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement should provide Police forces in the UK with a reason to re-assess their relationships with the communities that they serve.
The temptation to approach the adjudication of a student complaint as merely an ‘internal process’, is one of the most common errors made by some higher education institutions. The process adopted must be capable of examination by an independent and external eye to ensure that at each stage of the process, the rights of all individuals involved are protected.
Once an allegation is made against a student (or member of academic staff), either by another student, a member of staff or someone outside the university, it is important that that the University takes stock of the issue and acts carefully to ensure fairness to all parties.
University providers owe a duty of care towards staff members and students; this duty takes on particular significance during a disciplinary process and it is essential that Universities provide appropriate and relevant information and support to all parties involved in allegations of misconduct.
What happens when a complaint is made to a University about the conduct of a student or a member of academic staff? What should the procedures for the resolution of these complaints look like and how can all parties be reassured that such allegations will be resolved fairly?
This blog series examines some of the sexual offences encountered by the main characters in the explosive 12-part BBC series, ‘I May Destroy You’. This final instalment focuses on a character called Theo and the events that occurred when she was a youth, during her high school years.
The impact of Coronavirus is significant and far-reaching for all children and young adults. For a youth justice system creaking under strain with serious delays, the lockdown has only compounded the problems and brings a raft of serious consequences. Timely justice is ever more important.
Where a student has had an unfavourable outcome from a university disciplinary process, that need not be the end of the road. It may still be possible for them to appeal or otherwise challenge the higher education provider’s decision.
At last week’s Westminster Higher Education (HE) Conference, speakers from Student Unions, Universities, to regulators and law firms discussed how best to tackle sexual violence and harassment in high education, including how to change campus culture and improve complaints and disciplinary processes. This blog summarises those discussions and reflects on where the sector’s key focus areas should be now.
Props are well known for their fondness of the ‘dark arts’ of Rugby, but over the weekend (7 March 2020) the England prop Joe Marler went a step further. In this blog, Matthew Hardcastle looks at the situation and explains whether it should be considered sexual assault or not.
Tucked in between the “reasonable worst-case” scenarios for food, trade and fuel is a stark one liner: “Law enforcement and information sharing between U.K. and EU will be disrupted”. The reduction in capability of law enforcement agencies that will come from a no deal will, according to government documents, be accompanied by an increase in cross-border crime.
The recent acquittal of our client, Oritsé Williams, once again puts a spotlight on the prosecution of rape and serious sexual offences, and the particular complexities faced by high profile individuals defending allegations of this nature.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) was established to investigate and prosecute cases involving serious or complex fraud, a mission that inevitably leads it to the corporate sector. In 2010, it was given two significant tools in dealing with companies: a simple route to corporate criminal liability for bribery cases in the Bribery Act 2010 (the stick); and a means of incentivising a company fixed with corporate criminal liability to co-operate with the SFO by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and so avoiding a conviction (the carrot).
As the Scottish Parliament raises the age of criminal responsibility to 12, the law in England & Wales becomes even more isolated from the rest of the Western World. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, in relying on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), a convention to which the UK is a signatory, continues to criticise the UK in no uncertain terms regarding our failure to raise the age from 10 (the lowest in the region) to 14.
Ministry of Justice figures show that 18 to 25-year-olds account for a third of the total social and economic costs of crime as victims or offenders, despite making up only 10 per cent of the population.
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